Bipartisan Housing Bill Passes Congress, Merging Hill and Waters Proposals
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act represents a rare cross-party legislative agreement on housing supply, shifting federal policy emphasis toward market-based solutions over rent control or...
Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bill combining House legislation authored by Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) with a companion Senate measure, according to reporting by the Washington Examiner published July 6, 2026. The bill's bipartisan authorship is notable: Hill is the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, while Waters is the panel's senior Democrat, making their joint sponsorship a cross-ideological endorsement of the legislation's core approach.
The legislation prioritizes housing supply-side interventions rather than direct price controls such as rent stabilization ordinances or large-scale federal public housing construction, approaches that have been central to progressive housing proposals in recent years. The precise statutory text, including specific zoning reform mandates, federal funding allocations, and regulatory changes to permitting timelines, is contained in the enrolled bill available through Congress.gov under the bill's designation; readers seeking line-by-line provisions should consult that record directly.
The housing affordability debate has intensified across multiple Congresses. According to data from the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual reports, median home prices and average rental costs have risen in the majority of U.S. metropolitan statistical areas over the past decade. The legislative record does not yet specify projected housing unit targets the bill is expected to produce; the Congressional Budget Office score, which would contain those projections, has not been publicly cited in available sourcing as of this report's publication date.
The White House's position on the bill — including whether President Trump has signed or intends to sign the legislation — is not confirmed in the available source material. The enrolled bill's transmission to the executive branch and any presidential action would be recorded in the Federal Register and on Congress.gov. It is also unknown which Senate sponsors introduced the companion measure; the full list of co-sponsors is available in the legislative history on Congress.gov. What remains publicly unresolved is the bill's implementation timeline, the federal agencies designated to administer its provisions, and what appropriations, if any, accompany its authorizations — details that would appear in the bill text and any accompanying conference report.